you've got me on a natural high
by katanafleet
Summary: Emma Swan Jones would think that, by now, she'd be used to surprises. It's a surprise when the pregnancy test she takes two days later says positive.


Emma Swan Jones would think that, by now, she'd be used to surprises.

Meeting Neal in an already stolen car, falling in love with Neal, getting betrayed by Neal, giving birth to Neal's child in prison, said child finding her ten years later. All of those were surprises. She's not even going to mention Storybrooke and finding her parents and going to the Enchanted Forest too many times to count and falling in love with bloody _Captain Hook_ and going to the Underworld to get him back and marrying said three-hundred-year-old pirate.

So when Emma starts throwing up and feeling completely off like she has the flu, she's surprised. Flu season isn't for another three months. It's a surprise when the pregnancy test she takes two days later says positive. Killian's absolute _joy_ when he comes running after she calls is not a surprise. Not at all.

They lean back against the tub side by side, the test still in Emma's hand, her head resting on his shoulder. "What now?" Emma asks when she gets the nausea under control.

"I have no idea, love," Killian says with that voice, the one when Emma can tell he is barely containing his enthusiasm and is probably grinning from ear to earring.

It's a surprise when they go to Dr. Whale for the first appointment and Ruby's standing beside him, returned from the Enchanted Forest and assisting with gynecology, of all trades. Emma's fine with this, Killian very much so. "Anyone but Whale," he declares. It's a surprise when Ruby reveals that Emma's already three months pregnant.

"How did I miss that?" Emma wonders as they walk out of the doctor's hand in hook.

"How did _I_ miss it?" Killian muses as he reads some brochures about the side effects of pregnancy when they get back home to the white-picket fence house.

It's not a surprise when Mary Margaret absolutely breaks down when they finally tell her a week later. Emma stands with arms awkwardly out at her sides while her mother hugs her almost too tightly to breathe. Eventually Killian reminds Mary Margaret that life and pregnancy require breathing. So Mary Margaret releases Emma with another sob and grabs Killian, who just stands patiently, patting his mother-in-law's back with his get-me-out-of-here expression.

It's a big surprise when David breaks down and starts nearly sobbing in the sheriff's station when they tell him ten minutes after Emma extricates her husband from her mother's arms. It's not a surprise when he punches Killian for impregnating his daughter. It is, however, a surprise that the punch didn't break Killian's nose.

It's a surprise when Henry doesn't take the news about Baby Jones very well, despite being thirteen and having two younger step-siblings already. It's a surprise that it's Killian who eventually manages to help him see that he's _not_ being replaced. Not at all. It's an even bigger surprise when Emma walks into Henry's room to see her son and husband actually briefly hugging, like father and son. It's not a surprise that Henry immediately bounces back to enthusiastic step-brother and starts planning for Baby Jones, deciding that the small bedroom farthest away from his own will be the baby's and starts painting the walls with lines from the storybook.

It's not a surprise that Emma's main side effect in pregnancy is that voracious appetite, followed closely by the horniness associated with female hormones. The first is good for Granny's, who's selling an incredible number of grilled cheese sandwiches lately. The second is good for Killian, who's certainly not complaining about any of this. The combination is not good for anyone, least of all David, who's often called to bring food to the house after Killian's home from work and has begged Regina to bleach his brain many times.

It's a surprise for nearly everyone when Emma and Killian finally go to the is-it-a-boy-or-girl scan. Grumpy had released a poll throughout town predicting the gender of Baby Jones, and boy had won, 74% of Storybrooke predicting boy and only 26% predicting girl, as he proudly announces to the amused Killian and unamused Emma. Of course, Baby Jones is a girl. It's a surprise for hardly anyone but David, who had been betting on a little girl grandbaby since the day after the announcement.

It's a big surprise when a white-faced and silently stoic Killian shows up to the hospital in the middle of the night, a crying Emma cradled in his arms. It's the best surprise of all when the contractions and bleeding are nothing to worry about, that Emma's fine and Baby Jones is kicking like nothing odd's happening below her. It's not a surprise that Killian, upon hearing the news from Dr. Whale, fights his way into Emma's room and collapses with his head next to her stomach, tears of relief streaming from his face. Emma's crying too as she strokes his hair back and whispers "It's okay, we're okay, I love you" into his chest when he stands and crawls up next to her on the bed.

It's a surprise when Emma goes into labor four days before the due date. It's a bigger surprise that it's in the sheriff station. And a really big surprise to poor Archie, who had merely been in to psychoanalyze the twice-heartbroken and chronic thief of a jailed-once-more Will Scarlet. Emma, of course, immediately calls Killian, trying not to laugh at the horrified expression on Archie's face.

It's not a surprise that Killian panics like the Underworld's come back to Storybrooke, and that he drives thirty miles per hour over the speed limit to get to his wife and child. It is a huge surprise that the moment he sees Emma, standing braced against the wall and timing the contractions with Archie pacing in the background, he calms and gets her to the car without a single panicked word.

It's not a surprise that both of them immediately panic once they reach the hospital and learn that Baby Jones will arrive within the next three hours. It's a surprise that Ruby's the one that calms them down, insisting that they know exactly what to do, how to give birth to a kid, how to raise said kid, and how to make sure said kid stays away from drugs and men in dark alleys, even though all three of them know that they know next to nothing. But right now, all that's okay.

It's a surprise that Hope Elizabeth Jones arrives only seventy-six minutes after they get to the hospital, fifty-two minutes after Mary Margaret, David, and Henry run in to check on Emma. It's a surprise to the three of them that Emma screams at them to leave after Mary Margaret's first encouraging "just breathe, honey," and Killian, with an apology to Henry, immediately ushers them out so they can pace in the lobby in peace.

It's not a surprise that Hope makes her appearance just as lights throughout the hospital explode and Emma falls back into Killian's embrace, both of them staring at their tiny daughter in Ruby's arms.

It's a surprise, at least to Killian, that Hope's eyes are the piercing blue of his own, and it's a surprise, at least to Emma, that her daughter's hair is as blond and fine as her own.

After it's all over and Emma and Hope are cleaned up, checked, and given a clean bill of health each, Mary Margaret and David with Henry between them, peer into the hospital room right before Ruby lets them in to see the baby. Emma's holding Hope and Killian's sitting next to her on the bed, his arm around Emma, his forehead pressed into Emma's temple, and his finger stroking down his daughter's little face. They're whispering softly, smiling down at their kid.

Almost everything's been a surprise, but this wasn't. Somehow, this was always going to happen. None of them doubt that.

The lights flickering back to life when Hope starts crying is definitely a surprise.


End file.
